The term Stock Photography refers to a provide of pictures which are licensed for specific use, most commonly to fulfil the needs of artistic and design-assignments, without the need to hire a photographer. Nowadays, stock images may be bought from agents, and delivered online.

In total there are three different types of stock images:

Macro, additionally known as Traditional stock pictures, refers to highly priced and unique stock. Micro, refers to low value and non-unique stock photography. Mid, which is a term used for all the stock pictures in between Macro and Micro. Stock images can be filed at either an agency, or an internet supplier. As soon as a photographer has entered a contract with the provider, the supplier or company will negotiate the licensing fees on the photographer's behalf in alternate for either a proportion of their sale, or in some cases, full rights to the image. The pricing of stock images is set by the scale of the image, how long the image is for use, and what the image is for use for as well because the audience of readership, and whether or not royalties are to be paid to the image creator or owner.

Stock pictures can be advertised with a number of added-benefit licenses. Two of these licenses embody Royalty-Free, and Rights-Managed stock photography. A Royalty-Free license, typically advertised as RF, means that as soon as purchased, the buyer may use the image as a lot as they like without having to pay additional charges every time the image is used. Purchasing royalty-free images enables the client to use the image multiple times for a number of purposes whilst only paying a one-off fee. There is no limit on what number of instances the customer can reproduce a royalty-free image and there's no time limit on when the buyer can use the image. However, when stock images are listed as royalty-free, buyers are unable to say or purchase unique rights to the image and the photographer could sell the image as many times as they want.

Rights-managed licenses, typically advertised as RM or “licensed images”, provide the buyer with assurance that the image will not be utilized by anybody else in a conflicting manner. Rights managed images usually allow a much bigger print run per image than the final Royalty-Free license. A RM agreement could embody exclusivity and usually recognizes that this represents added value. However, not all rights-managed images are unique, specific phrases and conditions could be found in the agreement between the customer and seller.

The worth of a license is decided by means of the image. The phrases of the usage are clearly defined and negotiated to enable the purchaser to obtain most value, as well as clear protection in their purchase by a level of exclusivity.

All through the years, stock images has develop into very talked-about amongst inventive artists and designers. There are at present quite a few on-line suppliers of free stock pictures and free royalty free images which enable additional parties to purchase and immediately download stock pictures for a small, one-time fee.